Although the greeting card art is of long standing, there have been relatively few attempts to provide a card or card kit capable of providing truly personalized messages, particularly in combination with a photograph to be provided by a sender.
There are numerous prior art patents which disclose greeting cards or postcard variations incorporating photographs. However, there are no cards in the prior art which disclose a combination of a photograph on the face of the greeting card with a selection of message inserts. Some of the prior art cards are discussed below.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 279,490 to Lane, entitled ORNAMENTAL CARD, and 2,878,607 to Alves, entitled PHOTO-MOUNT GREETING CARD, disclose greeting cards with a preprinted message and an aperture for display of a photograph or memento.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 816,870 to S. A. Markoff, entitled PHOTOGRAPHIC MAILING CARD; 2,256,399 to MacHarg, entitled MAILING CARD; 3,174,244 to Walton, entitled COMBINATION PHOTOGRAPH EASEL AND MAILING ENVELOPE UNIT; 3,713,238 to Hyman, et al., entitled POSTCARD INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPH MOUNTING MEANS; 3,875,693 to Pelkey, entitled MESSAGE BEARING PHOTO EASEL; 4,008,852 to Davis, entitled APERTURED MAILING CARD AND METHOD OF USING; and 4,681,253 to Englehardt, entitled EFFICIENCY PHOTO-GRAM WITH STAND-UP DISPLAY, all disclose a card with a photo display opening, leaving a blank space for writing or omitting a message.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,176,535 to T. Markoff, entitled GREETING CARD, and 2,547,359 to Backarach, entitled COMBINATION GREETING CARD AND FRAMED PICTURE, disclose a greeting card with a removable image holder for independent display.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,343 to West, entitled OCCASIONAL CARD, discloses a collapsible box with an insert holder.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,360,916 to Von Trott, entitled FOLDED GREETING CARD CONSTRUCTION, discloses an aperture in combination with selected messages; however, it does not contemplate insertion of a photograph or independent design for viewing through the aperture.
As stated previously, none of these patents disclose or suggest attaching a photograph on the face of a greeting card in the manner of the instant invention, in combination with selected inserts having preprinted messages.